It all began many, many centuries ago, when King Magish ruled these lands. He was an intelligent leader and over time his empire developed and strengthened. At the same time, on a forgotten island somewhere in the middle of the vast oceans, the despotic Emperor Gorbakh's kingdom was also flourishing. In Gorbakh's breast beat the heart of a gallant warrior, but instead of developing different parts of his empire and living in peace, he craved more territory and wanted to conquer the world. He saw himself as the autocratic ruler of all the territories. Having raised a huge army, which had never known defeat, he seized one kingdom after another. And then he came to Magish's empire.

Magish knew perfectly well that he could not resist Gorbakh's army, to which, according to rumour, Vertsida herself had given all her powers. Magish spent many restless nights searching for a way to defend his lands and his power, for a way to get the better of the great Gorbakh. He hanged many wise men and commanders because no one could give him an answer. And then one night, as he slept, Magish had a vision, in which an ancient god summoned all the dead and the damned.

The god had no name and since birth he had been held in contempt and loathed by all the other gods. Then the god spoke: I will help you, I will give you the powers you need to stand up to Gorbakh, but you must help me, you must become the Dark Governor of these lands and collect the souls of the dead for me so that I can immerse this world in darkness for five thousand years and stun the other gods with my power, making them tremble with fear at the sight of me.

The exhausted and shattered Magish accepted the proposal and the god gave him the powers of all the dead and the damned. In a bloody battle Magish repelled Gorbakh's attack. Gorbakh took the defeat on the chin and cleared off back to his island where he began to weep with sorrow because the power of Vertisda had not helped him and now he could not become the absolute ruler of all the lands. The tears flowed as he wept and gave life to the miraculous Cuckoo Flowers, amongst which Gorbakh soon became exhausted. These flowers, after his death, spread and destroyed his whole empire because they carried such a mortal sorrow and grief.

Gorbakh's menace disappeared but King Magish took little pleasure from it because he needed to fulfill his part of the deal and become the Dark Governor, collecting the souls of the dead for the God of All the Dead and the Damned. Such a fate frightened King Magish and, more than anything, the solitude that it promised because, to the end of his days, he would be a social outcast cursed by all as he fulfilled his terrible destiny. And so he decided to take his whole family with him to the darkness of beyond, so that he would not be so sad or alone.

Magish told the God of All the Dead and the Damned his wish and so it was that his beautiful wife Levreta shared his terrible fate. Magish even carried off with him his courtiers, the sorcerers Lingraonts and Zuliman, who were also his step-brothers, and turned them into his minions. Having understood the terrible fate which had befallen their former king, the remaining courtiers took the decision to destroy the monster who had once been their ruler so that his terrible destiny would not be realised and so that their souls would not be handed over to the God of All the Dead and the Damned. But they did not have enough power and even the legendary Agudar the Knight, head of a dragoon regiment, fell in battle and was enslaved by the power of the Dark Governor.

The inhabitants decided at a general council to immure Magish and his family in their palace, turning it into a tomb. That place became cursed and restless. By night, the dead rise from their graves, the sinister grinding of putrid teeth sounding out as they spread their deadly rage. The dead children dance around in circles singing silent songs, the withered old women wander around the settlements, for some reason peering into windows, watching the living, sowing fear. While Magish lives and while the echoes of his magic reach beyond the tomb's walls, these lands will never see any peace and quiet.